Clark County, Washington Chooses Verity Voting System for Refresh

VANCOUVER, Washington, October 16, 2018 – After a competitive procurement process, Clark County, Washington has purchased the new Verity® Voting system from trusted solution provider Hart InterCivic. County election stakeholders formed an evaluation team to vet available options through a request for proposals process that included written responses and in-person equipment demonstrations. The team unanimously identified Hart as providing the best value and product.

“Hart has been a great partner for a long time,” said Greg Kimsey, Clark County Auditor. “We’ve had a very good experience with Hart products and service. Our existing system has served us well, and the service is excellent.”

Clark County receives as many as 210,000 voted ballots over an 18-day period; as many 50,000 arrive on or right after Election Day. The County records voters’ choices through a high-speed scanning process; then a closely observed team resolves any voter choices that are not clear when ballots are scanned. Election results are not tabulated until after 8 p.m. on Election Night.

For each of these steps – scanning the voted ballots, resolving voter intent issues, and tabulating results, Kimsey described Verity features that gave the team a comfort level the other systems didn’t provide.

Regarding scanning, Kimsey said, “We like that Verity doesn’t let you scan the same ballot more than once on a specific scanning machine. This prevents errors.”

About ballot resolution, he said, “Verity’s process of resolving ballots on-screen is easy to understand – not just for staff but for observers.”

About protecting against tabulating election results too soon, Kimsey said, “With Verity, tabulation software is not present on the machine used for scanning and resolution. The process is easy to control and to explain to election observers and the public. We keep our tabulation machine in a secured, sealed, locked room from well before the election until 8 p.m. on Election Night. People like this – it’s a clean process.”

Kimsey added, “Verity’s ballot layout is easy to use. For example, you can establish fold lines and see where they’ll be on the ballot before you print. Also, Verity is more flexible than other systems in the paper sizes you can use to print ballots.”

“Clark County has selected the system that will best serve its voters well into the future, and we are proud to continue to support this forward-looking jurisdiction,” said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic, an Austin-based company with more than 100 years of experience providing election solutions. “Hart pioneered digital ballot scanning, and our decade-plus experience with the technology has strongly influenced Verity’s design, as has feedback from our many Washington customers.”

“Hart’s knowledge and expertise with by-mail voting are evident,” said Kimsey. “The features that contributed to our choosing Verity reflect that long experience. The company is clearly committed to providing systems that are highly functional and usable. It’s gratifying to see that Verity incorporates improvements we’ve suggested over the years. We see that Hart has been listening.”

Federally and state certified since 2015, Verity is in use in numerous counties throughout the U.S. Braithwaite expects more announcements throughout 2018 as additional jurisdictions choose Verity to refresh their election technology.